Turkish language [Archive] - The Apricity Forum: A European Cultural Community

Talvi

04-13-2012, 12:06 PM

Do you think that Turkish sounds like another language? Which languages come to your mind when you hear Turkish?

When I was in Turkey I heard some official announcements in bus stations and such (woman speaking officially ) and they always reminded me of Korean news readers or something like that. I think somehow Koreans womens voices and talking style is similar to Turkish womens.

However, I have also studied Korean (1,5 years) and grammatically there seems to be almost no real similarity.

I dont support the Altai-Uralic language family hypothesis, so I dont believe that Japanese, Korean and even Estonia are related. (I can also speak Japanese casually).

Azalea

04-13-2012, 12:08 PM

Thank you for your opinion. :)

04-13-2012, 12:11 PM

Just a general suggestion for users (the ones who havent done a comment), who have never been to Turkey and want to comment on the language , they should first listen to the youtube videos provided by OP then do comments and maybe try to suggest also a language that sounds or at least has got a vibe of another language, thanks :D

Onur

04-13-2012, 12:12 PM

Agglutinative languages with lots of suffixes only sounds similar to each other but never to the other languages like Indo-European or Semitic ones.

So, Turkish language only sounds similar to Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian in Europe but all these languages are totally unrelated with IE languages of Europe in every way.

I taught Turkish to foreigners in Turkey before and i have to say that Turkish language is quite difficult to learn for someone who uses IE or semitic language as a mothertongue. I mean, it`s easy to learn basic Turkish which would be enough to communicate with people but it`s extremely difficult to learn proper formal Turkish.

I think it should be same for Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian too. I believe it should be extremely difficult for an English speaker to learn these languages with all their aspects.

I dont support the Altai-Uralic language family hypothesis, so I dont believe that Japanese, Korean and even Estonia are related. (I can also speak Japanese casually).
I do not believe current classifications of Uralic and Altaic languages either but comparing with IE languages, Uralic and Altaic languages definitely closer to each other, at least in terms of grammar. I know that most of the tense, mood suffixes in Uralic and Altaic languages are either exactly same or pretty similar.

The Lawspeaker

04-13-2012, 12:19 PM

Talvi

04-13-2012, 12:27 PM

Agglutinative languages with lots of suffixes only sounds similar to each other but never to the other languages like Indo-European or Semitic ones.

So, Turkish language only sounds similar to Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian in Europe but all these languages are totally unrelated with IE languages of Europe in every way.

I taught Turkish to foreigners in Turkey before and i have to say that Turkish language is quite difficult to learn for someone who uses IE or semitic language as a mothertongue. I mean, it`s easy to learn basic Turkish which would be enough to communicate with people but it`s extremely difficult to learn proper formal Turkish.

I think it should be same for Finnish, Hungarian and Estonian too. I believe it should be extremely difficult for an English speaker to learn these languages with all their aspects.

I do not believe current classifications of Uralic and Altaic languages either but comparing with IE languages, Uralic and Altaic languages definitely closer to each other, at least in terms of grammar. I know that most of the tense, mood suffixes in Uralic and Altaic languages are either exactly same or pretty similar.

Since I have come in close contact with 4 different agglutinative languages (that are all officially considered from different language groups) and I can say that they are all agglutinative in very different ways. Korean and Japanese are very very similar in their agglutinative and non-agglutiniative parts and I feel that the morphemes are joined in different ways than in Turkish and on different occasions.

In this aspect I feel like Estonian grammar would be closer to Turkish than Japanese or Korean would be. However how, and when the morphemes are joined in those 2 still differ a lot.

Hurrem sultana

04-13-2012, 12:32 PM

turkish sounds very different,and honestly does not remind me of any language(from europe that i have heard)

04-13-2012, 12:34 PM

turkish sounds very different,and honestly does not remind me of any language(from europe that i have heard)

But what about world-wide? World-wide Europe is a small spot, so if you compare Turkish with other languages in Africa as well as Asia, would you say there is/are some other languages that is/are similar to ours, or our langauge is just unique according to your experiences ? :)

Peter Nirsch

04-13-2012, 12:36 PM

It's like a mix of Arabian, Iranian and Albanian.

04-13-2012, 12:38 PM

It's like a mix of Arabian, Iranian and Albanian.

Interesting observation, based on which youtube video provided by OP did you do your above comment?

Onur

04-13-2012, 12:41 PM

In this aspect I feel like Estonian grammar would be closer to Turkish than Japanese or Korean would be. However how, and when the morphemes are joined in those 2 still differ a lot.
You are right. Hungarian, Finnish and Turkish clusters more closely to each other and Japanese/Korean forms another group.

Thats why current Uralic and altaic classifications are just a joke, created with political aims in late 19th century. For example, Hungarian is much more closer to Turkish than Finnish but they are classified in same Uralic group while Turkish supposedly in Altaic group with Korean, Japanese.

turkish sounds very different,and honestly does not remind me of any language(from europe that i have heard)

It's like a mix of Arabian, Iranian and Albanian.
As i said, Turkish only sounds like Estonian, Hungarian and Finnish in Europe and totally unrelated with all other IE languages. These four languages sounds like each other because all are agglutinative and uses vowel harmony.

Turkish is also totally unrelated with IE Iranian, Albanian and Semitic Arabian.

Hurrem sultana

04-13-2012, 12:44 PM

As i said, Turkish only sounds like Estonian, Hungarian and Finnish in Europe and totally unrelated with all other IE languages.

it does not sound like finnish at all

Onur

04-13-2012, 12:56 PM

it does not sound like finnish at all

Hungarian is the most similar one with Turkish in Europe but Finnish and Estonian is also similar to some degree. Take a look at this;
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Fi-ugr-turk-comparison.png

I can give more examples...

Corvus

04-13-2012, 12:59 PM

I don´t like the sound. No offense to anyone, but it`s the
same with all non IndoEuropean languages.
It`s totally different and therefore not convenient to listen to.

Talvi

04-13-2012, 01:01 PM

Hungarian is the most similar one with Turkish in Europe but Finnish and Estonian is also similar to some degree. Take a look at this;
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9b/Fi-ugr-turk-comparison.png

I can give more examples...

If I hear spoken Hungarian I cannot understand even 1 word.

Onur

04-13-2012, 01:08 PM

If I hear spoken Hungarian I cannot understand even 1 word.
I was only talking about in terms of sounding similar to each other.

Yes we cant understand each other and i believe that it`s because agglutinative languages separated from each other and developed in their own ways much earlier than the separation of various IE languages.

So currently, our grammar rules are pretty similar, suffixes and prefixes are similar [these things makes our languages sounds similar to each other] but roots, words are largely different, so we cannot understand anything at all.

Onur

04-13-2012, 01:14 PM

Turkish is a strange language and it reminds me a bit of Hungarian but it seems to depend very much on the speaker: if the speaker is an uneducated thoroughly Islamic hick from somewhere deep in Anatolia then it sounds as if it is a completely foreign (non-European) language but when you are watching Turkish TV then you will hear the very same intonation and speech patterns one hears on Dutch TV or on French TV.
Belanda, the Turks in Europe usually speaks Turkish so bad and we the ones from Turkey usually tease and joke with their corrupt language.

I have no idea how this happens but some Turk from the mountains of Macedonia, Bulgaria who has never been in Turkey for the last ~600 years, speaks much better Turkish despite the fact that they have never get educated in their native tongue but some migrant from Anatolia speaks much worse Turkish if they stay in Europe for more than 20 years.

The Lawspeaker

04-13-2012, 01:17 PM

I have no idea how this happens but some Turk from the mountains of Macedonia, Bulgaria who has never been in Turkey for the last ~600 years, speaks much better Turkish despite the fact that they have never get educated in their native tongue but some migrant from Anatolia speaks much worse Turkish if they stay in Europe for more than 20 years.
It's the same with Afrikaners, Flemish or some Surinamese of the older generation or Indo-Dutch. They speak Dutch better then we do - sometimes using words that we haven't been using for the past 200 years.

Loki

04-19-2012, 01:40 AM

If I hear spoken Hungarian I cannot understand even 1 word.

Szeretlek :D

rashka

04-19-2012, 01:46 AM

I find Hungarian and Finnish much softer languages. It is the U sound coming from the bottom of the throat that sounds so heavy and if I can even use this word "unsexy". That's my honest opinion about it. :)

Yaroslav

04-19-2012, 01:59 AM

Hungarian and Turkish sound similar to me. I don't understand how Turkish is in the same language group as Japanese, those languages sound nothing alike.

Queen B

04-19-2012, 02:26 AM

Honestly, not my cup of tea. I find the sound very strange, but I think also that Turkish language is very unique. I don't think I have heard any other language similar to Turkish.

Talvi

04-19-2012, 07:19 AM

Hungarian and Turkish sound similar to me. I don't understand how Turkish is in the same language group as Japanese, those languages sound nothing alike.

Because language groups are not based on pronunciation.

Pecheneg

05-20-2012, 02:42 PM

Hungarian and Turkish sound similar to me. I don't understand how Turkish is in the same language group as Japanese, those languages sound nothing alike.
actually, Turkish and Japanese are somewhat similar. :D

B9JPyb36Cds
This is a funny video in my country.
She speaks Japanese, but sounds like Turkish.

another video - Japanese anime (sounds like Turkish) :D
853xmlimrqg

Siberian Cold Breeze

05-21-2012, 06:15 PM

I am learning Japanese and can give some examples .Prepositions and sentence structure is quite similar especially -e and -de suffix is exactly same in Turkish and Japanese

uchi:home
ikimasu:to go
watashi:I

I home go
Ben ev-e gidiyorum (or giderim -present tense)
watashi wa uchi-e ikimasu

watashi wa uchi -kara kimasu
I home -from come
Ben ev -den geliyorum or gelirim (present tense)

Deniz wa uchi -de benkyo shimasu -ka?
Deniz ev -de ders yapacak -mı (question suffix)
Deniz home -at lesson study is?

we have hidden subject at the end of question so we don't use subject all the time .
Japanese language don't even have this hidden subject ,once you use subject ,u don't need to say I or you (watashi,anata) all the time..
interesting part is Japanese and Koreans speak Turkish well ,with nice pronounciation, except their famous L problem..And they find my accent quite similar to native Japanese ,so we Turks can learn spoken Japanese with no problem but their alphabet makes this language hard.

Aces High

05-21-2012, 06:21 PM

Honestly, not my cup of tea. I find the sound very strange, but I think also that Turkish language is very unique. I don't think I have heard any other language similar to Turkish.

Brummy...;)

Siberian Cold Breeze

05-21-2012, 06:38 PM

Korean is also easier for us both pronunciation and grammar structure Also it's alphabet is not that difficult..These Turkish guys mastered in spoken Korean appearantly.

JQTY5oDYbWQ

Onur

05-21-2012, 11:51 PM

I am learning Japanese and can give some examples .Prepositions and sentence structure is quite similar especially -e and -de suffix is exactly same in Turkish and Japanese
Thanks for the Japanese examples but you know, these similarities and maybe more also exists with other agglutinative Uralic languages like Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian etc.

The suffix concept of most agglutinative languages are so similar to each other and in many languages, the suffixes for mood or tense are exact same. It`s just the vocabulary is mostly different.

Talvi

05-22-2012, 07:41 AM

Thanks for the Japanese examples but you know, these similarities and maybe more also exists with other agglutinative Uralic languages like Hungarian, Finnish, Estonian etc.

The suffix concept of most agglutinative languages are so similar to each other and in many languages, the suffixes for mood or tense are exact same. It`s just the vocabulary is mostly different.

There are still a lot more things that are different. Even with suffixes like numbers, counting and plural. And also possessive.

In fact, theres more differences than similarities.

Some random examples in Turkish, Japanese and Estonian.

Hastayım. (Turkish)
Ma olen haige. (estonian)
(Watashi ha) byouki desu. (Japanese)
As I understand, In this case only Turkish uses a suffix. (It means "I am sick")
And there are plenty of more cases like this. Such as when using possessive when in Turkish, as I understand you also add suffixes and change the word endings like in the case of "mine, yours". The latter happens also in Estonian however in Japanese just a particle is used.

Turkish also has different forms for 1st person singular, 3rd person singular etc. Something that Japanese completely lacks but Estonian has.

Turkish and Japanese may seem similar because they are both SOV languages, but thats not saying much because a lot of unrelated languages are. So the examples Siberian Cold Breeze gave were more based on being SOV languages, but all in all it was too simplistic.

Ivo Arandur

05-22-2012, 08:04 AM

I like Turkish - it sounds so weird that it's beautiful :p I learned it for a while but gave up cos I didn't have much free time to spend on it :(

Somebody mentioned Hungarian in one of the previous posts - a friend of mine (a Bulgarian) who speaks almost perfect Hungarian, started learning Turkish a few weeks ago and according to him the 2 languages are almost identical when it comes to their grammar...

Siberian Cold Breeze

05-22-2012, 10:09 AM

There are still a lot more things that are different. Even with suffixes like numbers, counting and plural. And also possessive.

In fact, theres more differences than similarities.

Some random examples in Turkish, Japanese and Estonian.

Hastayım. (Turkish)
Ma olen haige. (estonian)
(Watashi ha) byouki desu. (Japanese)
As I understand, In this case only Turkish uses a suffix. (It means "I am sick")
And there are plenty of more cases like this. Such as when using possessive when in Turkish, as I understand you also add suffixes and change the word endings like in the case of "mine, yours". The latter happens also in Estonian however in Japanese just a particle is used.

Turkish also has different forms for 1st person singular, 3rd person singular etc. Something that Japanese completely lacks but Estonian has.

Turkish and Japanese may seem similar because they are both SOV languages, but thats not saying much because a lot of unrelated languages are. So the examples Siberian Cold Breeze gave were more based on being SOV languages, but all in all it was too simplistic.

I know but i m a learner not a linguist ,these are my own experiences as a Native Turkish speaker .English grammar is exact opposite of Turkish and also it's pronounciation is a challenge .It's nice to know finally i can speak a language with a good accent.:)

Onur

05-22-2012, 10:17 AM

Some random examples in Turkish, Japanese and Estonian.

Hastayım. (Turkish)
Ma olen haige. (estonian)
(Watashi ha) byouki desu. (Japanese)
As I understand, In this case only Turkish uses a suffix. (It means "I am sick")
And there are plenty of more cases like this. Such as when using possessive when in Turkish, as I understand you also add suffixes and change the word endings like in the case of "mine, yours". The latter happens also in Estonian however in Japanese just a particle is used.
The suffix usage according to personal pronouns is mandatory in Turkish but you can also use both personal pronoun as well as the suffix of it at the word ending. We only do it to emphasize the person like we can say; "Hasta-y-im" or to emphasize the person who is sick as "Ben hasta-y-ım" or "Men hasta-y-am" in Azerbaijani.

Don't you add a suffix to the word according to pronouns? Isn't it possible to drop personal pronoun ("Ma" above here) in Estonian?

Turkish and Japanese may seem similar because they are both SOV languages, but thats not saying much because a lot of unrelated languages are.
What is the word order in Estonian? Is it SVO or is it in relax form, so both SVO and SOV are possible and correct?

I am not familiar with Estonian but after reading your message, i think your language has been subjected to an IE language influence like the usage of personal pronouns and articles. If you drop suffixes in favor of articles, this can only be explained as foreign influence from Indo-European language(s) because the standard agglutinative grammar favors suffix usage and SOV word order or at least relax word order but not strict word order of SVO and usage of articles [these are IE characteristics].

Somebody mentioned Hungarian in one of the previous posts - a friend of mine (a Bulgarian) who speaks almost perfect Hungarian, started learning Turkish a few weeks ago and according to him the 2 languages are almost identical when it comes to their grammar
Yes, i was talking about that. The grammar rules in Hungarian and Turkish are almost identical and some suffixes are exact same while the vocabularies are different.

Talvi

05-22-2012, 12:13 PM

Don't you add a suffix to the word according to pronouns? Isn't it possible to drop personal pronoun ("Ma" above here) in Estonian?

What is the word order in Estonian? Is it SVO or is it in relax form, so both SVO and SOV are possible and correct?

Hmm.. It is possible to drop "ma" from "ma olen haige" or "sa" from "sa oled haige" (you are sick) and in this case, at times, it is possible to use a SOV type of a construcntion instead of the usual SVO. Like:
"haige olen" (sick, am) although "olen haige" (am sick) is fine also.
However you cannot use the SOV construction with a personal pronoun in this case : "Ma haige olen" is incorrect. (I, sick, am)

However this is an informal way of speaking and still mostly personal pronouns are used and its always not even possible to drop them. I suppose that in full sentences it could be harder to drop personal pronouns and the whole sentence ends up sounding weird.

I am not familiar with Estonian but after reading your message, i think your language has been subjected to an IE language influence like the usage of personal pronouns and articles. If you drop suffixes in favor of articles, this can only be explained as foreign influence from Indo-European language(s) because the standard agglutinative grammar favors suffix usage and SOV word order or at least relax word order but not strict word order of SVO and usage of articles [these are IE characteristics].

The main IE influences for Estonian are (low ?)German and Swedish.
However what exactly do you mean by dropping suffixes in favour of articles? In Estonian articles and pronouns and suffixes are used simultaneously. Thats is the same even in Japanese. I dont think any language is a 100% synthetic or isolating...

east

06-27-2012, 11:15 AM

During the so called "Rеvival process" 1985-1990 in Bulgaria , Turkish speech was banned. My friend and his brother anyway spoke Turkish on the street, but they changed the pronounce so , it sounds like Hungarian. It is not difficult, every Turkish speaking guy can reach it. ;)

Anatolian Eagle

06-27-2012, 11:23 AM

Well, Hungarian and Turkish pronouncation are indeed too similiar.

Ryujin

12-05-2018, 03:39 PM

Hungarian sounds Turkish. Also Japanese in some way.

Astarte

12-05-2018, 03:56 PM

Sounds bad, sorry :(

Swarthy_Syndicate

01-31-2021, 11:18 PM

Very Muslim-sounding. In a strange way I actually find it more intimidating than Arabic, can't really put my finger on it though.

itilvolga

01-31-2021, 11:47 PM

If you guys wanna learn how it sounds like for real, those Youtubers who have a good pronunciation would help to get an idea. I wouldn't suggest listening to Turkish songs since many of them have "nâme" which has no place in pure/daily life Turkish, but taken from Persian and Arabic music and literature.

This TV newsman speaks very good, for an instance:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6OFGD8-8bQ

Faklon

02-01-2021, 12:15 AM

AZALEA<3<3<3>>>>ITILVOLGA

It sounds like canines barking in Arabic ofc.

itilvolga

02-01-2021, 12:43 AM

AZALEA<3<3<3>>>>ITILVOLGA

It sounds like canines barking in Arabic ofc.

Yunanca da ananın amından çıkarken doktor pensine takıldığında çıkardığın ses gibi geliyor kulağa işgalci dedesini siktiğimin Y*nanı. Yemin ederim insanı zıvanadan çıkarıyosunuz

Alexandro

02-01-2021, 12:56 AM

My best friend is Turkish (from Isparta) so I hear him speaking it occasionally, I like the pronounciation of the A, like how the English a is their e, and also how our e is their i. My friend says that the English pronunciation of A "sounds gay", haha.

NSXD60

02-01-2021, 01:17 AM

Sounds like a slightly less irritating form of Russian, save for these unpleasant sounding Muzzie words, that is. Makes me wonder if all of these Mongol invaders, like the Turks, etc., altered the PIE accent of the Slavs, much like the latter did to the original Lithuanian accent when they ruled Lithuania. Some linguists posit that the PIE accent may have sounded like a mixture of Homeric Greek and Swedish.